When some people hear the name pierrot grenade, their first thought is the spelling of words in a humorous manner.
But as someone who sews, I’ve always been intrigued by how the costume is put together – something I got to do in 2023 and 2024 through an interesting combination of circumstances and my links with an ole mas band.
Since 2017, I’ve been part of a band led by Cherisse Lauren Berkeley who comes from a famous family of mas-makers, including her uncle Wayne Berkeley. Previously, the band competed during the Bocas Lit Fest Ole Mas Competition with various themes and presentations. This year, the second in which she brought out a mas band, she asked me to be a pierrot grenade. Last year, I played an imp.
Research
I began doing research into the character using websites and resources from the UWI Department of Creative and Festival Arts and UWI-Roytec. I learned that the original pierrot came from France with the colonisers, was finely dressed in silks and proud of his ability with words. The National Carnival Commission’s (NCC) website says the character is “the supreme jester in Trinidad Carnival...and delights in displaying his knowledge and ability to spell any word.” They also used to have a whip or bull pestle to fight other pierrots.
[caption id="attachment_1064430" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Paula Lindo's mini pierrot grenade at the Rotunda Gallery’s Wire Sculpture Miniature and Textured Art exhibit. - Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
In Trinidad, the freed slaves were not able to afford the silks and began to use bits of scrap cloth attached to burlap sacks, which resulted in the colourful strips of cloth we’re accustomed to today. The pierrot grenade also carries a guava whip or stick which he uses to gesture.
Mini pierrot
On December 4, I was forwarded a call for submissions for the Rotunda Gallery’s Wire Sculpture Miniature and Textured Art. I have always wanted to be able to make something to be exhibited, but since I usually only sew clothing for myself, the opportunity to do so for exhibition never really presented itself – until now. As it turned out, making a mini pierrot was good practise for sewing the life-sized costume. I submitted my idea to the gallery and it was accepted.
I decided to wire bend a figurine and create a pierrot costume using the scraps I had at home.
The only thing I had to buy were two cork rounds to mount the figure, which I found at Tulip’s.
I made the wire figure using a tutorial I found online, and spent more time figuring out how to clean rust off the wire and protect it from further rusting than actually making the figurine. I’d had experience bending wire when doing a Certificate in Technical Theatre at UWI St Augustine, so I wasn’t a total stranger to it, and I think this year I’ll explore more.
Putting together the cloth costume involved hours of work cutting scraps into identical-sized pieces of 1.5 centimetres by three centimetres, to ensure they would look uniform. For two to three days after work, I’d spend a couple hours cutting the
